Electric shavers



Dec. 29, 1970 LQNER HAL ELECTRIC SHAVERS Original Filed July 14, 1967 INVENTORS A2 ("L 0 L071 c-if BY 0 0 M 6-4 er 9 I A/ M United States Patent Oflice 3,550,281 Patented Dec. 29, 1970 3,550,281 ELECTRIC SHAVERS Aldo Loner and Otto Meier, Klagenfurt, Carinthia, Austria, assignors to Firma Carinthia Elektrogerate Gesellschaft m.b.H.

Original application July 14, 1967, Ser. No. 653,405, now Patent No. 3,456,341, dated July 22, 1969. Divided and this application July 16, 1969, Ser. No. 842,110 Claims priority, application Austria, Aug. 12, 1966,

Int. Cl: B26b 19/10 US. Cl. 30-34651 3 Claims ABSTRACT OF THE DISCLOSURE A removable cutter head for dry shavers in which a frame has a perforated cutter foil thereon as a stationary upper cutter and a further stationary upper cutter for a lateral trimmer. The cutters cooperate with reciprocating lower cutters and a U-shaped bracket supports the lower cutters. A base part is provided formed by two bridges below the lateral trimmer cutter and the latter is guided along the bridges by means of sliding elements.

This application is a division of applicants copending application Ser. No. 653,405, filed July 14, 1966, now Pat. No. 3,456,341.

The invention relates to a removable cutting head for electric shavers, in which a screening cutting foil is arranged as a top cutter for the shaving part and a top cutter for a side nipper is arranged on the longitudinal side of the frame, and these fixed top cutters cooperate with reciprocating blades pressed against them resiliently during operation.

In the case of removable cutting heads of this type, arrangements have already become known which have the purpose of holding the lower blade unit after removal of the cutting head, carrying the screening cutting foil either on the apparatus or else on the removed cutting head so that it should not become undone unintentionally and thus be lost or damaged. It has been known especially for this purpose to provide lateral strips at the lower blade unit which, in the case of the completely mounted cutting head, lie, with play, below assigned strips developed along the frame of the cutting head so that in the case of removal of the screening cutting foil, the outward movement of the lower blade unit will be limited under the spring action by these strips acting as stops.

It is an object of the invention to provide improved removable cutting heads of the described type where the lower blades are mounted in the cutting head through the fact that a releasable mounting arrangement has been provided which, at the same time, also carries out a guiding function. A cutting head developed in accordance with the invention of the initially described variety with lower blades mounted in the cutting head is characterized by the fact that for the mounting of the lower blades in the cutting head, and for the simultaneously centered guiding of the side nipper lower blade, a U-shaped bracket has been provided in operation whose lateral parts are connected releasably, for example, by catches, with the face elements of the frame of the cutting head, and whose base part is formed by two bridges which pass below the side nipper lower blade from the driving side whereby the side nipper lower blade is guided along said bridges through sliding elements, for example, bent-over flaps arranged on said lower blade.

Upon removal of a cutting head according to the invention from the electric shaver, the lower blade unit is held firmly in the cutting head by the U-shaped bracket. It, however, can be easily released from the cutting head for purposes of cleaning by the releasable connection of this bracket with the cutting head, that is, the holding bracket secures the lower blade unit only against an unintentional loosening from the cutting head, but it will permit an intentional loosening without any difiiculty. Furthermore, the same mounting bracket after placement of the cutting head on the electric shaver and after starting of the apparatus further serves for the centered guidance of the lower blade during its operating movement without any additional expenditure worth mentioning being required for this purpose. Because of the centering through the mounting, the lower blade unit has a precisely defined position with regard to the apparatus and its operating element even during placement on the cutting head, so that the coupling of the lower blade unit with this operating element is particularly simple and can be accomplished safely without any further aid. Because of the guidance of the lower blades in operation, the correct relative position of the teeth of the side nipper lower blade will also be secured with regard to the assigned top cutter.

The invention will be explained in more detail on the basis of an embodiment given by way of example and in relation to the drawing in which FIG. 1 shows a crosssection through a cutting head according to the invention;

FIG. 2 is a perspective view of the lower blade used in the case of the cutting head; and

FIG. 3 is a perspective View of the essential parts of the invention.

The cutting head shown in FIG. 1 has a shaving element with a screening cutting foil and two side nippers whereby one side nipper is a so-called open side nipper 18, and the other a so-called closed side nipper 19. The top cutters of these side nippers are formed in a known manner by the edge zones of the screening cutting foil 20. For this purpose, for example, teeth for the formation of the top cutter for the open side nipper 18 have been cut into one longitudinal edge 21 of the screening cutting foil, while the other longitudinal edge 22 of the screening cutting edge has been bent, whereby the teeth are worked into this bend as has been known in the case of a closed side nipper. The screening cutting foil 20 itself has been attached to longitudinal bridges 23 and 24 of the cutting head frame 25, and to be sure, by latching onto pegs 26 disposed along the longitudinal bridges 23 with openings provided therein.

The lower blade 1, cooperating with the screening cutting foil and the side nipper lower knife 4 developed in the manner of a frame are shown in FIG. 2.

As can be seen from FIG. 2, the lower blade 1 has been arched cylindrically. Its cutting edges are developed on lamallae indicated by strokes 2 only. On both face sides, one bridge 3 each has been provided for stiffening of the lower blade. The longitudinal elements 5 of the side nipper lower blade 4, developed in the form of a frame, extend laterally beyond the lower blade 1 and each carries a row of cutting teeth 6. On the face side of the frame, one transverse element 7 always constitutes the connection of the two longitudinal parts 5.

A spring bridge 10 common to both lower blades, and having three leaf springs has been provided according to another proposal, for the purpose of pressing each lower blade against the pertinent top cutter. In FIG. 2 the two outside leaf springs 8 and 8' are connected to the lower blade 1 and the middle leaf spring 9 of the spring bridge 10 to the lower blade 4. The middle part common to all leaf springs with which the driving element, that has not been shown engages, has been designated by 11. Every leaf spring is formed by two spring tongs projecting in opposite directions from-the centerpart 11, for example the leaf spring 8 from the two spring tongs 8a and 8b. The ends of the leaf springs are attached to the front side bridges 3 or the transverse elements 7 of the lower blades. In this manner every lower blade by itself has been disposed resiliently; the drive of both lower blades being accomplished jointly, however, starting out from the center part 11 of the spring bridge. The spring bridge holds the two lower blades together so that it forms an assembly unit.

For mounting of this assembly unit in the cutting head, as can be seen more precisely from FIG. 3, a U-shaped bracket 27 has been provided. The lateral parts 28 of this bracket have projections 29 forming a catch which cooperates with corresponding recesses on the end parts of the frame 25 of the cutting head, and to be sure, in such a manner that upon inserting of the bracket 27 into the frame of the cutting head, these projections will fit into the recesses and thus define the position of said bracket. The base part of the bracket 27 is formed by two bridges 30 and 31. The side nipper lower blade 5 has bent flaps 32 and 33, and the mutual distance of the bridges 30 and 31 has been selected in such a manner that these bridges upon bringing up the bracket 27 to the lower blade from the direction of the side facing away from the screening cutter foil, come to lie laterally beside the flaps 32 and 33. In this manner the bracket will form, in addition to constituting a mounting for the lower blades in the cutting head, also a longitudinal guide for the side nipper lower blade during operation. Such a guide is particularly important so that the teeth 6 of the side nipper lower blade cooperating with the side nipper top cutters 21 and 22, would always assume a precisely defined position and thus the distance of the tips of the teeth from the top cutters to the lower blades will always remain the same. As a result thereof, one can guarantee especially that the tips of the teeth of the stationary open side nipper top cutter project beyond the tips of the teeth of the pertinent movable lower blade, and thus offer the desired protection against injury dur ing shaving.

In the case of removal of the cutting head, the lower blades are held in the arch of the screening cutting foil so that they cannot get lost or damaged by careless handling. For the purpose of cleaning and for the purpose of exchanging the screening cutting foil, however, the entire lower blade unit can be removed by unlatching the mounting bracket from the cutter head.

The design shown, naturally permits different variations within the scope of the invention. Thus, for example, the connection of the two lower blades to a unit can also be accomplished in a different manner except through a spring bridge.

Also two open side nippers or only one side nipper may be provided, in which latter case, one of the toothless longitudinal bridges of the side nipper lower blade is slidingly supported by the frame of the cutting head. The top cutters for the side nipper can also be developed as parts separate from the screening cutter foil.

We claim:

1. Removable cutter head for dry shavers comprising a frame, a perforated cutter foil provided on said frame as a stationary upper cutter for a razor part, a stationary upper cutter for a lateral trimmer disposed at least on one longitudinal side of said frame, the upper cutters cooperating with reciprocating driven lower cutters which are pressed during operation resiliently thereagainst and which are mounted in the cutter head, a U-shaped bracket for supporting the lower cutters in the cutter head and for the simultaneously centered guidance of the lateral trimmer lower cutter, said bracket having lateral parts connected in operation releasably with end parts of the frame, and a base part formed by two bridges extending on the driving side below the lateral trimmer lower cutter, the lateral trimmer lower cutter being guided along the bridges by means of sliding elements disposed thereon.

2. Removable cutter head as claimed in claim 1, in which the lateral parts of the bracket are connected by catches with the end parts of the frame.

3. Removable cutter head as claimed in claim 1, in which the sliding elements on the lateral trimmer lower cutter are formed by bent flaps.

References Cited UNITED STATES PATENTS 2,975,516 3/1961 Heyek 3034.1

FOREIGN PATENTS 1,091,081 11/1967 Great Britain 3034.l

ROBERT C. RIORDON, Primary Examiner G. F. GRAFEL, Assistant Examiner US. Cl. X.R. 3034.1 

